


The Art of Survival

by softmoonlight



Series: Rarepair Flash Fics [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Force Unleashed - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Felucia, Padmé Amidala Lives, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Quintuple Drabble, Shaak Ti lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softmoonlight/pseuds/softmoonlight
Summary: Padmé wasn't even looking for Jedi survivors when she found her.
Relationships: Maris Brood & Shaak Ti, Padmé Amidala & Maris Brood, Padmé Amidala/Shaak Ti
Series: Rarepair Flash Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003848
Kudos: 47





	The Art of Survival

**Author's Note:**

> Most of Force Unleashed isn't relevant here (for example, the Rebellion isn't solely credited to a 17yo boy and two Sith Lords), but I am stealing the concept of Shaak Ti surviving Order 66 and hiding on Felucia.
> 
> I'm on a roll today, guys, I'm just so happy about the election results I actually feel motivated for once.

Padmé wasn't even looking for Jedi survivors when she found her.

Ten years since she was forced to leave her children behind at opposite ends of the galaxy, her focus rested solely on building the Rebellion to destroy her former husband's empire. Her newest mission had brought her to Felucia, such a hostile planet that even a decade after the Clone Wars end, the war of attrition to gain control of its surface still raged on. No matter how many stormtroopers the Empire sent, the planet killed them faster. No matter how hard anyone tries, its forbidding surface would never stay conquered for long.

It was the perfect place for a person to hide if desperate enough, which Padmé certainly was. After narrowly escaping Maldo Kreis, she had to lay low for a while.

Except. Clearly the situation had grown far more complicated than she ever would have anticipated.

 _Shaak Ti_ stood amidst a thicket of some of the most dangerous flora in the entire galaxy, eyes closed, face slackened in utter peace. She even wore the insufferable humidity well, the expanse of her exposed dark red skin glistening almost ethereally.

As Padmé watched, she twirled her lightsaber through familiar motions that she remembered Anakin once informed her were called katas.

The reminder actually did not hurt much, because Master Ti was far more graceful and calm about it than _he_ ever was.

Padmé was hypnotized. Her gaze lingered on her for so long that she briefly forgot how to breathe. The Jedi, an _actual surviving Jedi_ , looked more like a painting than something real.

The sudden, startling burning sensation and humming sound at her throat jarred her out of the reverie. Padmé found herself staring down a blue lightsaber at a young woman with fire in her narrowed eyes, and she couldn't do much more than hold her arms up in surrender.

What had she been thinking, letting her guard down like that even for a second?

Master Ti's eyes opened, finding Padmé's instantly, and it occurred to her that she must've known Padmé was there the entire time. Ti didn't quite smile, but her eyes shone warmly

" _Padawan_ ," she chastised.

The girl curled her lip in protest before lowering her blade and shutting it off.

"Padmé Amidala," Master Ti greeted with a formal nod. "It is good to see you again. Won't you join us?"

"Master!" The girl objected, scowling at Padmé. "She's not a Jedi. She could be our _enemy_."

"No, she is not a Jedi, but she is not a threat to us, either. Careful, Maris. It would do us best not to see a fight in everything we see." She looked back at Padmé again. "Well, Senator?"

She didn't know what it was—someone else using her true name for the first time in years, or the offer of belonging, however briefly—but Padmé stepped forward and nodded once. "I would be honored," she said softly, bowing slightly in an echo of a bygone era.

**Author's Note:**

> Maldo Kreis is that planet from the pilot episode (and the most recent episode) of The Mandalorian that I currently have pent up annoyance about on account of it not being Ilum.


End file.
